The West Sussex approach puts the child first. We work with children, families, communities, our partners and schools in a restorative, strength based way. Strong relationships are at the heart of what we do.
Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council
Difficulty viewing this bulletin? Click here to view in your browser.
Wednesday 4 January 2023
Welcome back to 2023. Wherever possible we hope that you were able to spend time with family and friends and maybe have a well-earned break. We look forward to working with you all in the year ahead.
Important: Mandatory Early Years Census 2023 and Free Entitlement Spring term Actuals – Now Open (FE providers only)
As you may know, every year we carry out the Early Years Census for the Department for Education (DfE). The Early Years Census is crucial because it is used to calculate the amount of funding West Sussex County Council (WSCC) receives for free early education.
The Early Years Census is mandatory for all Free Entitlement (FE) providers claiming funding for at least one child in Spring Term 2023. If you are registered to provide FE but are not claiming for any children in Spring Term, you do not need to complete the Early Years Census. However, all FE providers must submit Spring term actuals data. Please read Important information - Census 2023 letter for further information.
The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is now open for you to complete the following tasks:
- Submit your annual Early Years Census form
- Submit your Spring Term FE actuals claim
Key dates:
- Headcount day: Thursday 19 January 2023
- Deadline for submission: Friday 27 January 2023
Help and Guidance:
Important to note:
- FE claims can only be made for children who are in attendance during Headcount week (unless absent due to short term sickness or planned holiday).
- A Parent Declaration form must be fully completed and signed no later than Headcount day in order to claim at actuals.
- Each child’s funding claim requires you to record their ethnicity, ensure you refer to the Parent Declaration form and select the ethnicity as stated by the parent/guardian. Please do not select ‘Unknown’ as the DfE require this information as part of the mandatory data collection.
Extended FE claims - In order for a 30 hours code to be valid for Spring term:
- Parents must have applied for, or reconfirmed their 30 hour code before 31 December 2022.
- The code ‘start date’ must be before 1 January 2023 and the ‘Grace period end date’ covers the Spring term 2023.
To check a code is valid for Spring term use the online eligibility checker and view our helpful video guide for step by step guidance. Please note, WSCC cannot fund without a valid code.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask for the Specialist Team, or e-mail free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
Free Entitlement Funding Rates for 2023/2024
The Department for Education published the funding allocations on 16 December 2022. Officers are considering the options available to calculate the 2023/2024 funding rates which are due to be reviewed by the Schools Forum on 19 January 2023. The revised rates will be published once approved and commence from the start of summer term 2023.
Last chance to submit: Expression of Interest to offer Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) places for 2023
The Expression of Interest will close on Sunday 8 January 2023. For more information and to place an expression of interest please click here. If you would like to discuss your bid before you submit, or if you have any general enquiries, you can email haf@westsussex.gov.uk.
Starting School Applications
The deadline for applying for a school place is Sunday 15 January 2023 for all children born between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019. Please make sure that the families who should be applying for a school place for their child, particularly those whose child has just started attending your setting and those that may have difficulty reading the information provided, are aware of the deadline and complete their application on time.
Please check that all families are aware that completing the Starting School Questionnaire is not the same as applying for a school place and that they have also completed their school application before the deadline.
To apply for a school place, or for more information on applying, please signpost parents to www.westsussex.gov.uk/admissions and read the Starting School Leaflet and the application checklist.
If you have any new children starting with you this term, please share with the families the information and the link to complete the online Starting School Questionnaire or the paper version of the questionnaire. Please remember that to see the online questionnaire results yourself, you will need to ask the family to identify your setting as the one their child attends. Please provide them with the full name and the postcode of your setting based on your Ofsted registration.
DfE Childminder Mentor programme
The Department for Education (DfE) have appointed Hempsall’s as their delivery partner for the Childminder Mentor programme.
Applications for childminders to request support from the Childminder Mentor programme are now open. The deadline for childminders to submit their application is Friday 17 February 2023.
Please see the application page for childminders to request support on Hempsall’s website here: COVID-19 Recovery Childminders | Hempsalls. You can find more information on this programme in this leaflet and poster.
New Learning and Development Gateway launching in early 2023
The Learning and Development Gateway will be replaced with a brand new system. The Gateway Team are working with the new supplier, Learning Pool, to move all training courses and eLearning onto the new Learning Management System (LMS). In the meantime, you can continue to browse, book, cancel and add new staff as normal, until further notice. Although some data and information will be retained and transferred to the new system, there are some records that will not be transferring.
What will happen to my training records?
The records of course attendance and e-learning completion will be retained, and the plan is that records covering the previous four years will transfer to the new LMS. Data records which are older than this will be retained separately and will cover the complete training history.
Will my data be safe?
Your attendance on courses and e-learning completion will be safely stored and your records from the previous four years securely migrated to the new LMS.
Will I be able to access my certificates?
When we migrate to the new system, you will be able to access the previous four year’s certificates. If you require a certificate for a course held prior to January 2018, please download from the Gateway as soon as possible, as it will not be available once the system has been migrated. We will update you on the new LMS as things progress. If you have any queries, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Early Years Educator level 3 qualification Consultation
The Department for Education (DfE) are consulting on a revised criteria for the early years educator level 3 qualification. The qualification criteria were last updated in 2014. NCFE, an education charity and leader in vocational learning, conducted the review of the early years educator level 3 qualification and criteria over the summer, and the DfE are now consulting on their recommendations for improvements.
Please review the suggested criteria and share your views. The consultation closes on Monday 23 January 2023 and can be found here: Changes to the early years educator level 3 criteria - Department for Education - Citizen Space.
Early Years Training – New courses running this term
We have two, brand new courses suitable for managers or advanced practitioners.
What's love got to do with it? Developing a loving environment in your setting (Webinar) is a half day course for deputies or managers. You will gain an understanding of the concept of a loving pedagogy. What is a loving pedagogy? Put simply, our pedagogical approach shapes our children. Thus, adopting a loving pedagogy promotes love, kindness, and other prosocial behaviours within the setting. The cost of this course is £26 per place.
- Thursday 26 January – 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 23/1965
Refreshing Teaching and Learning. EYFS Pedagogy and Characteristics (Webinar) This half day webinar is suitable for any practitioner working within the EYFS. Explore how children learn and how we can best support their progress and well-being
When the meaning of “pedagogy” and its characteristics are understood, valued, and woven into provision and practice along with a depth understanding of elements of best practice. The cost is £26 per place.
- Thursday 2 February - 13:00 to 16:00 - EYT 23/276
Courageous Creativity: Playfully Engaging Young Children with Learning After Deprivation or Trauma - this face-to-face course, made up of two half-day sessions, is for anyone working with looked-after children, recent adoptees, and refugees. Each session consists of a presentation, followed by a practical, hands-on workshop. You will investigate imaginative, playful, and creative techniques to re-engage young children with their learning such as skills to grow the imagination with active story-telling and related small-world play. You will explore how to foster high expectations for creativity by introducing Growth Mindset Theory in drawing and making contexts. Finally, you will learn ways to promote holistic learning by actively working with parents and carers to provide tools to enhance screen-free play at home. The cost is £52 per place.
- Wednesday 1 and 8 February - County Hall North, Horsham - 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 22/2111
To book, visit the Learning and Development Gateway and search for the course by typing the EYT code.
To allow our Early Years and Childcare Advisors to focus their support to where it is most needed, we ask that you check for information online before you contact us.
COVID-19 guidance
Other information and guidance (WSCC)
-
Practice support (EYFS, Diversity and Inclusion, health and wellbeing, transitions, legislation, regulation and safeguarding)
-
Supporting families in your childcare setting (includes CLaWBA, integrated reviews)
-
Tools for schools and settings (supporting the inclusion of all children in early years)
-
Business support (Free Entitlement, marketing, finance, recruitment, advertising)
- Training and qualifications
-
Network meetings/events (Learning and development, INCO SENCO, business and welfare)
-
Online Provider Portal (submission dates, help guides)
For help to access information
To request additional support for your setting
Please inform the Family Information Service if your setting needs to close or is re-opening. Email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk and include your setting name, Ofsted URN, the date you intend to close/open, and any changes to your operating hours. If you inform us of re-opening, you will be reinstated on the public list and appear on our website www.westsussex.gov.uk/fis.
If closing due to COVID-19, please consult the guidance to check when to inform Ofsted.
In the event of your setting having a confirmed COVID-19 case, if Public Health or the Department for Education have stated you must close for any period of time you must inform the Family Information Service. However, if Public Heath have not explicitly stated in correspondence to you that the setting must close, we would expect you to make contact with your Early Years and Childcare Adviser (EYCA) to talk through your circumstances, where possible, before making the decision to close the setting. If you are not able to make immediate contact with your EYCA then please email your nearest Early Help Hub using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
-
#246 (Safeguarding focus: staff supervision and LADO e-learning module. Early years census 2023 - advance notice; early years training update - January courses)
-
#245 (Scarlet Fever management webinar; Starting School applications - one month to go; checking eligibility for 2 year old FE; DfE childminder mentor programme; early years equality - campaigning for better funding; setting fees; slides from network meetings)
-
#244 (Rise in Scarlet Fever, Level 3 cold weather alert; Spring Term FE claims - 30 hour code deadline reminder; sufficiency update deadline approaching; consultation on level 3 early years educator qualification; flu vaccination information for early years providers; proposed changes to Worthing primary school places)
-
#243 (Safeguarding focus: safe arrivals and departures; safer sleep in winter; safeguarding training; spring term courses; support for families with English as an additional language; starting school questionnaire; invest4 grant fund; national professional qualification in early years leadership; casting long shadows - new report from the first 1001 days movement; foundation years vodcast on improving the home learning environment; opportunity to help develop support for children with SEND; SEND and inclusion newsletter)
-
#242 (Final reminder - FE spring term estimates; post headcount/exceptional payment requests; local offer information; supporting parents with childcare costs; HAF programme; EYPDP - phase three; first early years stronger practice hubs announced; best start in life review; measuring wellbeing in early years settings; five to thrive essentials; a look at dynamic displays)
| 
